Abstract

Vitiligo is a depigmenting disorder characterized by the development of white patches with evidence in favour of an autoimmune mechanism. We investigated the role of melanotropins and the plasma levels of α-melanotropin and ACTH-like immunoreactivities in 40 vitiligo patients with the aim of detecting a possible influence of neuropeptide regulation of immunity. Twenty-one patients had active and 19 had stable vitiligo disease, 16 persons presented with an additional autoimmune thyroid disease.